Irate Brazil slams FIFA chief as 'loudmouth'

The Brazilian government Monday described FIFA chief Jerome Valcke as a shameless "loudmouth" for his mounting criticism of Brazil's lagging preparations for the 2014 World Cup, a news report said. Valcke is no longer acceptable as an interlocutor between FIFA and the government, said Marco Aurelio Garcia, a top adviser to President Dilma Rousseff, in remarks carried by the daily O Globo. "This individual has no shame," Garcia was quoted as saying on arrival in the German city of Hanover, where he was accompanying Rousseff on her official visit. He was reacting to the FIFA general secretary's comments Friday suggesting that the Brazilian organizers of the 2014 World Cup needed a "kick up the backside." Garcia said Rousseff chose to ignore Valcke's comments, noting: "the president has better things to do than get irritated by the remarks of a loudmouth." "He does not create a problem for us. He created a problem for FIFA," the Rousseff aide added. FIFA have for months expressed varying degrees of concern over the extent to which preparations -- renovation or construction of stadiums as well as infrastructure projects -- are on track for the first World Cup in Brazil since 1950. But Frenchman Valcke pulled no punches on Friday when he said that although there was no danger of Brazil losing the event, he believed progress was much too slow. "I don't understand why things are not moving. The stadiums are not on schedule any more and why are a lot of things late?" asked Valcke. Saturday, Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo announced that his country would boycott Valcke as a FIFA spokesman over his comments. "The government will no longer accept the secretary general as FIFA spokesman," Rebelo told a press conference.